Microsoft knows EU pain — and now helps inflict it

Software company was a target of antitrust regulators — and now relishes Google’s predicament

Not long ago, Microsoft was the scourge of European antitrust regulators. It was fined once, twice, three and four times. Finally, after Microsoft paid more than $3 billion, Europe left it alone.

Now, Google is firmly in Europe’s cross hairs: Antitrust regulators on Wednesday formally accused the company of abusing its dominance. And Microsoft is relishing a second act in Brussels, playing the role of scold instead of victim.

Microsoft has kept its coffers full for the fight, spending more on lobbying here than any European company. And Microsoft has founded or funded a cottage industry of splinter groups. The most prominent, the Initiative for a Competitive Online Marketplace, or ICOMP, has waged a relentless public relations campaign promoting grievances against Google. ICOMP hosts online seminars, panel discussions and news conferences. It conducted a study that suggested changes made by Google to appease regulators were largely window dressing.

Microsoft has links, to varying degrees, with the three initial complainants that sparked the antitrust investigation into Google. And Microsoft’s activity gained momentum as a new European government re-energised the investigation. Last month, Microsoft played an important role in a delegation of American companies that met with the US ambassador here, essentially asking him to let Google fend for itself against EU regulators.

The two companies are the Cain and Abel of American technology, locked in the kind of existential struggle that takes place when a new giant threatens an older one. Microsoft was frustrated after US regulators at the Federal Trade Commission didn’t act on a similar antitrust investigation against Google in 2013, calling it a “missed opportunity.” It has taken the fight to the state level, along with a number of other opponents of Google.

The main battle is now in Europe, thousands of miles from their US headquarters. Policymakers are alarmed that Google’s European market share is roughly 90 per cent in many countries, even greater than it is in America.

“Microsoft is doing its best to create problems for Google,” said Manfred Weber, the chairman of the European People’s Party, the largest voting bloc in the European Parliament.

“It’s interesting. Ten years ago Microsoft was a big and strong company,” he added. “Now they are the underdog.”

David Howard, Microsoft’s deputy general counsel, said, “We have been clear all along about our concerns about Google’s business practices and their effects on fair competition. We are one of more than 30 complainants, among many others, who have shared similar concerns with regulators hoping that competition will be restored for the benefit of consumers and businesses.”